Captain N: The Game Master

Season 6

"THE MACHINE WARS"

PART 2

"ROBOTS IN DISGUISE"

WRITTEN BY
MARK MOORE

IN MEMORY OF
CHRIS LATTA
1949-1994

Author's note: The following story uses characters from the animated TV series "The Transformers"; however, the story is not a crossover between the two TV series "Captain N: The Game Master" and "The Transformers". What I have done is adapted "The Transformers: The Movie" to fit in Videoland, the game universe that Kevin Keene was pulled into. The TF characters are the same as they are in their own TV series. However, I have dropped quite a lot of characters and plot from the TF movie, having no use for them. I hope you enjoy this unique, yet familiar, story.

Friday, September 8, 1995, 8:15 PM

Silence filled the room as everybody gathered around the table. The badly-damaged body of Optimus Prime lay in front of them.

"Do not grieve." Prime said weakly. "Soon...I shall be one with the Matrix."

Hot Rod stepped forward. "Prime, - "

Optimus turned his head painfully. "Arcee, it is to you. I shall pass the Matrix of Leadership, as it was passed to me."

"But Prime, I'm not worthy." Arcee said sadly.

Optimus took her hand. "Nor was I. But one day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks," he said weakly, "and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour. Until that day, 'til all are one."

Prime opened up his chest plate and took out the Matrix. He faltered and dropped it. Hot Rod caught it, and, after feeling its power for a moment, handed it to Arcee, who put it on a chain and hung it around her neck.

"Lead them well, Arceus Prime." Optimus said weakly.

The lights in Prime's eyes flicked, then they went dark completely. His body turned grey, and then he died.

Mark turned away and looked at a monitor. "Megatron just went off-line."

Matt shrugged. "Oh, well. Recycle him."

Pak was walking down a street, away from Dr. Right's laboratory.

Suddenly, he clutched his head in pain and let out a scream.

"You disappoint me, Piedmont." Unicron told him in his mind. "You have not completed your mission."

"Screw the mission!" Pak yelled. "You didn't tell me the N Twits had such powerful friends! Now get out of my head!"

"Defeat Captain N," Unicron said, "or pay with your life."

Pak screamed out in pain.

Astrotrain was flying through space. Inside, Mega Man, Proto Man, and Mega Girl stood in the cargo bay with the Decepticons.

Mega Man looked the same, except he was now 5'7" tall. Proto Man looked the same, except he was now 5'7" tall and had a black pattern on his chest in the form of a video cassette.

Mega Girl had undergone the biggest change. She stood 5'7", the same as her brothers. Her pink armor was gone. Her titanium body was clothed in a white-and-red outfit and knee-high dark-red boots. Her long blonde hair was tied in the back by a hair band. She looked perfectly human.

The three robot siblings were watching in amusement as the Decepticons argued amongst themselves.

"They're running wild and tearing up the town." Dr. Right explained. "Those are the nice ones!"

"So, how do we stop them?" Matt asked.

"You three will warp through Capital City to the areas they've got in their steely grips." the scientist said. "Every Robot Master is hiding in his own special maze, filled with monstrous machines that fit his personality. You've got to run, blast, dodge, and leap your way through the dizzying rooms to finally corner the big boss."

"Yep, Mega Man I for Game Boy." Mandi concluded.

"Mark, you'll use Rush. Matt, you'll use Chord. Mandi, you'll use Tango, a new robo-kitty Li and I invented. I've programmed them to respond to your voices. Just call them when you need them. Now go to it! Hurry!"

They warped into Elec Man's area.

Mark drew his Zapper. "All right, team, let's do it to it!"

Mandi drew her Zapper. "Lead the way, Captain M."

Mark looked at her. "Uh, maybe you better lead, Mandi."

Mandi grinned and twirled her Zapper.

Arceus was just getting used to having the Matrix of Leadership hanging from a chain around her neck. She studied her reflection in the mirror.

Rick walked into her room. "Arcee? Er, Arceus?"

She turned and looked at him. "What?"

"Conference."

She nodded and followed him.

The N Teamsters and the Autobots stood on the front lawn outside the house.

"I called you here to our house due to the danger of another attack on Autobot City." Lana said. "We have five problems: Unicron, Pak, the Decepticons, Dr. Wily,..." she listed, then paused for a moment before continuing, "and the apparent defection of three of our friends."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Suggestions." Lana demanded.

"I think we can handle Pak and the Decepticons." Rick said. "We should send two team members to help Mark, Mandi, and Matt deplete Dr. Wily's forces."

Lana nodded. "Agreed."

"We'll deal with Mega Man, Proto Man, and Mega Girl if - when we see them again." Kevin said.

Lana frowned at Kevin's vocalization of "if", but let it slide. "Right. And Unicron?"

"Beats the heck outta me." Mike said.

"No brilliant ideas from your comic books?" Lana asked.

Mark, Mandi, and Matt warped into Dr. Right's laboratory.

Dr. Right and Dr. Shiroshi were waiting for them.

"Hey, you guys should've seen Mandi!" Matt said with a grin. "She was awesome fighting Enker!"

"And the way she took out Wily's Space Node!" Mark added.

Right and Shiroshi remained silent.

"What's up, Docs?" Mark asked.

The two scientists looked at each other briefly, then back at the kids.

"Thomas and I have just detected more Robot Masters in the city." Li said with great worry.

The N Teamsters and the Autobots came outside at the rude noise. The Autobots transformed into their robot modes.

"Piedmont." Kevin drew his Zapper.

"I'm Pak, I'm bad, I want the Matrix, and I'll kick your ass to get it." Pak aimed his Power Glove at Kevin. "Plus I gotta kill ya."

"No!" Arceus Prime yelled. She ran and pushed Kevin out of the way, taking the blast herself.

The Matrix flew off her neck and landed on the grass.

Pak picked it up. "Well, one outta two ain't bad." He hung the chain around his neck and teleported away.

Arcee got up off of Kevin. "Hey, are you all right?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah." He gasped. "The Matrix!"

Arcee looked at her chestplate, then got up and searched the grass. "It's gone!"

Mark, Mandi, and Matt were in the factory that Metal Man had taken over.

"Let's see if we can fly." Matt said. "Chord Board!"

The eagle teleported in at Matt's feet.

"Rush Jet!" Mark called.

The robo-dog teleported in at Mark's feet. He looked a bit different. Dr. Right had done some modifications.

"Tango,...uh,...Tango Too-Cute Titanium Travel!" Mandi blurted.

The robo-kitty teleported in at Mandi's feet and meowed.

"Aw, how adorable." Mandi said with a smile.

The three humans hopped on their respective vehicles and soared into the air, blasting robots as they encountered them.

Matt, Mandi, and Matt warped back to Dr. Right's laboratory.

"Whoo!" Mandi yelled in triumph, swinging her Zapper around. "Quint just got sent to the scrap heap!"

"Bad news." Li said. "While you were gone, Dr. Wily was discovered drilling for oil - and possibly some other power sources - in the middle of the ocean. He's probably gonna put it to some devious use."

Mandi lowered her arm sadly. "Mega Man III."

"We can't handle this!" Matt yelled.

"That's why you're getting help." Dr. Right said.

Romeo and Julius walked into the room.

Romeo smiled. "Hey, dudes."

Matt groaned. "Oh, no."

"Astrotrain, reverse course." Mega Man ordered.

Astrotrain turned around and headed back to Megaland.

"I believe we can take on the Autobots now." Mega Man said to everyone. "You all have repaired yourselves well enough after the last battle. Wadaya say, Roll? You ready?"

Roll thrust her right arm into the air. "Yeah, bro! Decepticon rule forever!" she said in her new teenage voice.

"Anyway, now that I'm your leader, how about some suggestions?" Mega Man asked Starscream.

Starscream growled, upset that he had lost to Mega Man in the fight to lead. "While we were attacking Autobot City, Soundwave sent Laserbeak to fly around and gather data. He came back with a compact disc that contains information on the defenses of Autobot City. We will be able to use the data to our advantage in our next attack!"

"No, I plan on attacking the N Team's house."

"What?!"

"The N Team is the greater threat. Once we kill them, destroying the Autobots will be easy."

"Yes, mighty Mega Man." Starscream grumbled.

"That punk, Punk, and Giant Suzy are outta the game." Mandi said upon their return to the lab, then blew on her Zapper like a cowgirl.

A warp opened in the N Team's living room, and Mark, Mandi, Matt, Romeo, and Julius walked out. Romeo and Julius left the room.

"Well, Wily's forces have been trashed." Mark said.

"We gave him one humongoid repair bill." Matt added.

"Good work, guys!" Lana praised the three.

"So, we miss anything?" Mandi asked.

"Oh,...not much." Lana said with a grin. She whistled.

Rock, Roll, and Blues walked into the room.

Mandi's jaw dropped. "What the hell happened to you guys?!"

Rock grinned. "While the Decepticons were attacking Autobot City, Kup and Hot Rod took us to a lab and built us new bodies."

"I even got a new voice. I don't sound like a baby anymore." Roll added with a smile. "They also gave us transformation capabilities."

"Show us!" Mandi said.

One at a time, the androids transformed. Rock turned into his double-barreled Zapper. Blues turned into a cassette, which all of them had already seen. Roll transformed into a motorcycle.

Mark smiled. "Hey, kinda like Cy-Kill on 'Challenge of the Go Bots'."

"Ugh! Don't mention that show!" Matt said in disgust.

"It's not all that bad!" Mark said.

The three androids transformed back into their robot modes.

"You know, I wonder what the transformation sequence would sound like vocalized." Mark said. "Oh-oh-ah-ah-ee!"

"No, I think it's chhh-chh-chh-chhu-chu!" Matt said.

"Me, I prefer wonka-wonka-wonka!" Mandi put in.

"You're all wrong!" Lana insisted. "It's chee-chee-cha-cha-choh!"

Mega Man decided to settle it. "The transform sound begins as an 8-hertz pulse repeated five times for .7 seconds, each repeat whose pitch can be represented by the absolute value of a declining sine wave, with each zero-to-zero arc of the wave representing one of five cycles of the repetition. The actual value of the sine wave can be modified by factor N, which is multiplied into the X value but divided into the Y value, which means that, although the actual pitch is largely indefinite, in analog terms, when the transform pitch is higher, the length of each pulse is shorter, and conversely when the pitch is lower, the length of each pulse is longer."

"Starscream was skeptical, but we convinced him to let us join the Decepticons." Mega Man said.

"I was given a cassette transformation so I could stay inside Soundwave and listen in on the Decepticons' plans." Proto Man added.

Mandi smiled. "Fits your style. You're the secretive one."

"And what did you find out?" Mark asked.

"During the attack on Autobot City, Laserbeak flew into the lab and stole a compact disc filled with information on Autobot defenses." Proto Man said. "We've gotta get it back. If the Decepticons use that information to wipe out the Autobots on this planet, they can easily conquer Megaland!"

"Let's take to the streets!" Lana said.

The Autobots cruised down one of the streets of Capital City.

Kevin, Mike, and Matt were riding in Hot Rod. Mark, Mandi, and Stacey were riding in Arcee. Rock, Blues, and Blaster were riding in Kup. Lana was riding on Roll.

Just then, they heard the sounds of an attack.

Looking up at the sky, they saw Starscream, in flight mode, flying straight toward them. Other Decepticons were behind him.

"What do we do?" Mike asked.

"Beats me." Kevin answered.

Suddenly, Lana drew her Zapper and fired at Starscream.

"Lana, are you nuts?!" Kevin yelled in shock.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan!" she assured him. "Follow me!"

Lana and Roll took the lead, and the Autobots followed.

"I, like, hate it when she does that." Stacey complained.

The Decepticons gave chase.

The Autobots and their friends, with Lana and Roll in the lead, drove into an alley.

"Club Zero?" Kevin asked in surprise. "Lana,...why?"

Lana hopped off Roll. "You'll see. Follow me!"

Lana ran into the side entrance, and the others got out of the vehicles and followed her.

"Where'd they go?!" Starscream demanded.

"Inside the building named Club Zero." Bonecrusher informed him.

"Then so will we!" Starscream said. "Decepticons, follow me!"

The Constructions destroyed the door, and the Decepticons walked into the main room of Club Zero.

What they saw wasn't what they expected.

Kevin, Lana, Stacey, and Mike were up on the stage. Kevin was playing a guitar, Lana was playing a bass guitar, Stacey was playing a keyboard, and Mike was playing drums.

Seeing this momentarily confused the Decepticons.

The band was playing the ending theme music from Season 3 of "The Transformers":

The Decepticons began making their way towards the stage, pushing aside dancers as they went.

Suddenly, a boombox on stage began transforming. The Decepticons had assumed it was part of the sound equipment. However, it soon had completely transformed to reveal itself as Blaster.

Blaster pressed his Eject button. "Sic 'em!"

Rewind, Eject, Steeljaw, Ramhorn, and Blues ejected and transformed. They landed on the Decepticons and quickly became an annoyance to them.

The band continued playing as Mark, Matt, and Mandi got into position on one of the rafters. They aimed their weapons.

The three of them fired, hitting some of the Decepticons. The Decepticons turned around, spotted them, and returned fire.

The three humans on the rafter dodged and ducked.

"Okay, what the hell are we gonna do now?" Matt asked.

Mandi thought for a moment, then stood up and holstered her Zapper. She grabbed hold of a ladder and began climbing.

"Mandi!" Mark yelled. "What are you doing?!"

"Cover me!" Mandi yelled back.

Mark and Matt looked at each other and shrugged, then stood up and fired at the Decepticons.

Mandi climbed across the stage on the ladder that was high above it. Eventually, she reached the other side. She climbed down, then jumped the last few feet.

"What the hell's she doing?" Matt asked.

Mark shook his head. "No idea."

Mandi drew her Zapper and hooked it up to the amplifiers' power supply.

The band abruptly stopped playing the music.

"You will all die, pathetic flesh creatures!" Starscream yelled.

"Ahem."

The Decepticons turned and faced Mandi.

Mandi was aiming her Zapper directly at Starscream's chest. "This Zapper is hooked up directly to the club's power source. That means it's pretty darn powerful."

Starscream became frightened. "You wouldn't."

Mandi grinned sadistically. "Twinkle, twinkle, little Starscream."

She pressed the trigger.

The blast must have been at least a hundred times greater than a normal Zapper blast. Starscream's features were illuminated blue for a few seconds, then he turned black and crumbled into ash.

Matt stared in shock. "Oh,...hell,...yeah."

The other Decepticons suddenly started firing.

"Like, I think we better get out of here." Stacey suggested.

"Hey, Stacey, you actually have a good idea." Lana commented.

All the humans and good robots ran out of Club Zero.

Once outside, the N Teamsters, Mark, and Matt took off in the Autobots.